Hi there hope you are doing ok.
I have been a bit busy with stuff not related to work over the last few days and haven’t been able to get on here so here comes a quick catch up.
I worked the Sunday before last, the same day that Everton knocked Man Utd out of the F.A cup so there were a few happy toffee men around town, and many fans of other clubs were equally as pleased. I had picked up a few that had been watching the game in pubs and they had been no problem so when I saw 3 lads crossing Marylebone Rd dressed in the blue and white of Everton I thought that I would do the decent thing and take some money off them.
The lads wanted to go to Clapham but as they all had burgers with them I was a bit reluctant but they said they would be careful, so I thought ok and off we went. As we went along the lads were telling me what a great game it was and how the Man U fans were almost crying at the end of the game. One of the lads got out at North St and the other 2 went up to Clapham Sth, they paid me and went on their way. As I pulled away from the kerb I had a quick look over my shoulder and noticed that there was a bit of salad on the back seat so I turned into a side road and got into the back to tidy it up. When I opened the back door I saw that there was food all over the floor and some of it looked as if it had been deliberately ground into the carpet, it took me about 5 mins to clean the back of the cab up and needless to say that I wasn’t happy nor will I be picking up anybody carrying food in future.

As regular followers of this site will know , I start work about midnight and generally phone Steve up as I come down the M1 to see what the work has been like and to see if there are any ceremonies or parties that are emptying where there may be some work into the early hours. So I have been hearing what a great job that DAC are doing in organising ranks outside the different clubs and bars.It is a shame that all the radio circuits can’t get together to have a go at organising a city wide offensive so we can try to drive the mini scabs out of the clubs and make them do what they are supposed to do,PRE BOOKED JOBS ONLY !!!!. It is disturbing when we hear that the police are moving on licenced cabs that are waiting outside these places and letting the scabs stay put though.

I have joined a couple of these unofficial ranks myself and have found that the work is there if you wait a little while and the punters generally seem to prefer to get in a cab, so if you are riding around looking for a job and see one of these “ranks” join in and help get OUR work back.

Well done DAC and the drivers that are sticking their necks out for the rest of our trade.

I have been following the blog about the Merc Vito “taxi” and the section in TAXI newspaper, by the mole in the merc, with interest as I may be replacing my TX1 in the next year or so, and have read that the drivers are very happy with the MPG that they are achieving. In one article I saw that they are doing about 30 mpg. Well can I just say that since I have had the injector pump on my cab overhauled ,it is doing over that. In fact one day last week it was nearly 35 mpg!!, obviously that includes the drive to and from work on the M1 , but it is still an awful lot better than it was before the pump was done.

Last Thursday I picked up a young middle eastern looking couple outside M+S in Oxford St, they had obviously had a bit of a tiff as the girl was crying and having a bit of a go at the fella. I don’t know what she was saying as they were talking in a language that I couldn’t understand.

The fella asked me to take them to Spire house, so a quick U turn and off we go. As we got up to Marble Arch I could hear raised voices so I had a quick look in the rear view only to see the bloke grab the girl by the collar of her jacket. I pulled over and opened the partition and told him to leave it out or I would have to ask him to leave the cab, or words to that effect!. Sorry he said and sat back in the seat, I asked the girl if she was OK and she said that she was fine but just wanted to go home. So off we go again but this time I kept an eye on the pair of them to make sure that all was well. As we went down Bayswater rd the voices started to get louder and this time the girls was doing the pushing and shoving but I thought that the lad was big enough to take it so I kept my nose out. When we stopped outside Spire House the girl was out of the cab like a shot , leaving the fella to pay. He got out and came to the nearside window and while he was giving me the fare he said sorry for the trouble. “no problem” I replied and he went on his not so merry way.

I was on the feeder rank at the White House the other morning when a bloke came to the cab and asked to go to Chalk Farm Stn. I told him that he would have to go and see the cab on point outside the hotel to which he replied that the last time he had asked one outside the hotel the driver had refused to go chalk Farm as it was in the wrong direction!!

I still said that he would have to ask and if the cabbie refused, to come back and I would take him. Anyway as he went on his way back to the other cab a metro cab came down Albany St and turned onto Osnaburg Terrace where the fella hailed him,right next to the cab on the rank, and the lad got in and off they went. The driver outside the hotel was stunned and came across to ask me if I had seen what had just happened.

Before I go I would just like to say congratulaions to the Gurkhas and well done to Joanna Lumley and Nick Clegg for their help in getting the house of commons to overule the governments stupid bill that wouldn’t let these soldiers settle here after they had fought for our country, something that an awful lot of the work shy layabouts that were born here would be horrified to do.

I am not very political and even if I was I think that my politics are my own affair but when you see the amount of money that this government has wasted over the last few years and then they turn round and say that if a few of these brave soldiers came to live here it would bankrupt the nation you have to think that they have lost the plot.

And as for not having enough places for them to live ,maybe if the politicians of all parties gave up their second homes there would be houses for them, and if they are lucky they may even get a new bath plug and a few interesting movies thrown in.

Well thats me done for now. I will be back in the next few days with more ramblings.